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Chapter One

Damien LaRue slowly, somewhat reluctantly, descended the wide stairway of his antebellu cereh to have found his ed his friend and co an appearance tonight, it was simply a desire to save himself the stark reminder that he would not claim his own mate or the pleasure he knew he could find with her Hushed voices and soft cries greeted him as he stopped at the double wide doorway that led into what used to be a grand ballroolittering chandeliers and old world elegance had once hosted cotillions and balls for the wealthy and elite of Louisiana, had held election parties for political candidates whose influence and legislation still lived on even though it has been decades since their passing The Civil War put an end to that era as assuredly as Isabelle had put an end to his life the way he remembered it

Shoving aside his ainst the doorway and watched the end of theplace on the small raised platfors like this that the ballrooroups around the dais were taken by thea penchant for bondage, Beau had E with oil, her nipples standing erect, her legs splayed for all to see how much Beau excited her Her denuded labia already sported the telltale gold loop piercing that labeled her taken and off limits to any brethren as still unmated Of the fifteen of theht pal them one of a chosen feho could survive the transfor mad, there were only five who hadn’t claimed that one woman who not only bore a similar mark somewhere on her body but whose mark responded to the nearness of her ether did

Das, stroke her soft flesh fro breasts then underneath her to cup her buttocks Lifting her, he sank his cock into her pussy in one s drowned out by the congratulatory applause that erupted in the large room

Da tiood luck The now ten mated couples all knew first hand not only the exalted pleasure that could be found with one’s trueinto their full strength and power, enabling theainst evil He hoped Jacob, Mason and the twins, Jon and Luc, were all lucky enough to find their h his own body had found and welco her Once the re four come into their full power, he would seek the dawn as his final atonement for his sins After all, if it hadn’t been for his cowardice and his lack of control, these ed by Isabelle and the horrendous death of an innocent woman would not be on his conscience even now, almost two hundred years later

“Da and join us,” Luc called out from where he sat at a table with Jacob and his brother, Jon

Da in actual pleasure when Beau increased his thrusts, ood nore the decidedly noticeable lack of strength in his body If he didn’t pay a visit to Marie soon, he would be of no help to his brethren when out on patrol Since their strength and poas enhanced by sex, twofold if it ith one’s mate, they fucked frequently He, on the other hand, tended to wait until his body was alti to his needs for almost thirty years He knew so their o that Abrielle was his mate, he has been reluctant to seek his pleasure with anyone except Marie, and he now sought her out only when he absolutely had to

“If you’re happy for them, why don’t you show it?” Jacob eyed his best friend orry clouding his green eyes He noticed the signs of Damien’s depleted state, the slowerto have to browbeat hiain soon They all knew Abrielle was his mate, yet none of them knehy Damien refused to bond with her Jacob had seen the differences in both of them the past few years and it was obvious that she not only wanted Damien, she knehat he was and had no problems with the fact the man she was so attracted to was a va to find his other half, the one woman who couldaround for

“Sorry, I’m just tired Didn’t sleep well,” he drawled Since they slept like the dead, literally, they laughed and relaxed, letting him slide by once ht?”

“Yeah That son of a bitch sure has been elusive since et why he wanted to leave the estate before he hooked up with awhen Em her as he cul with a few hard thrusts, his head thrown back as he erupted in pleasure so intense they who haven’t had the experience with a ine

“I’ll have a talk with hi on I need to know about or can help with” As their leader, the one who had inadvertently put each of them in Isabelle’s path but who had also rescued theht out when struggling with the proble existence or need for blood to survive

When he and Jacob had arrived too late to save the twins froe of her bloodsucking distraction, coht inch blades with precision and strategically aimed cuts Jacob had only been turned a year, but he was still grieving for his past life, grief that fueled his rage and lent an added viciousness to his attack By the tiround in the yard of Jon and Luc’s Texas ranch, she was bleeding out from numerous severed major arteries Neither one of the she was too weak to teleport or dematerialize, they left her to perish by the hellish heat fro sun, an appropriate sentence for one as so evil

For the last one hundred and forty-eight years Da the fifteen men who bore theturned without goingher death, they had sworn a pact to do good with the gifts being undead gave theoal toher long reign of terror Most of them have scattered, taken theirevery twenty or thirty years to avoid any suspicions when they didn’t age There remained

only the four of them and Mason who still resided in Louisiana Jacob and the twins still lived with Damien on his private plantation nestled deep in the marshes of the bayou that has been his family home since he and his parents fled France in 1789 in fear of their lives Being of the aristocracy, they kneas either give up their hoive up their lives

As Beau released Ele “You up for patrol tonight?” Jacob asked as the twins, Jon and Luc went to offer their congratulations to the couple

“I’ the way the others hovered over him

Jacob didn’t flinch froer in Damien’s dark brown eyes “Don’t snap s out the crazies We’re going to have to be on our toes for the next week”

Decades ago, they all had agreed to do what they could to keep their cities safe It seemed the best way to not only keep in touch as they slowly scattered, but to put to good use the special abilities their transforave them the time to amass wealth, so none of them were in need of money

“Yeah, I know,” Da to have to ly referred to it when they were in need of sex to boost both their energy and powers “You still fucking those two best friends?”